. . due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. msnbc takes you behind the walls of america's most notorious prisons into a world of chaos and danger. now, the scenes you've never seen, "lockup: raw." >> there is a pecking order inside the prison. where the inmates treat one another, they don't treat sex offenders very well. basically we're constantly finding them assaulted. we're constantly finding them extorted. we're constantly finding them beat up. it's almost a never-ending

situation with your sex offenders. >> we've interviewed many inmates who have expressed contempt for sex offenders. few have done so as dramatically as one of the most memorable murders ever profiled in "lockup," carl abuhl. >> there are people with certain criteria, rapos, child molesters. you kill them. there's no proper problem. >> reporter: he was sentenced to 77 years for killing a co-worker with, he killed again at spring creek. >> why don't you try raping another man. why you raping a woman. rape me. try to [ bleep ] me. i know there's someone out there bigger and badder than me but i'm going to die. i'll die for what i believe in. i have a lot of experience.

>> a lot of experience in what. >> doing what i do. >> which is? >> taking out the garbage. >> because they so frequently become the prey of inmates like abuhl, most sex offenders live in protective housing units. that's where we met ray rowe. >> it's a big honor badge for general population to kill somebody, especially a sex offender. >> rowe. >> rowe was sentenced to 230 years for an unlawful act with a minor. >> they don't care whether they're innocent or guilty, somebody said did you know that guy is a chester. >> which is? >> next thing they know they're hurt. >> what's a chester? >> several years ago in "hustler" magazine they had cartoons every week, the guy called chester the molester. the term has stuck. >> even the most secured housing

units can't always protect so-called chesters from an inmate set on hurting them. when we met christian knight, he was serving 79 years for murder at california state prison corcoran. >> just seeing christian the first time, we kind of knew he had some kind of story. he was very dramatic-looking with all the tats, very intense. >> it turns out knighton had several incredible stories but one involved his attempt to attack a sex offender at the los angeles county jail. >> got this freaking child molester on the tear. he's actually in the van talking about what he does. you know, i like to keep myself at, hey, i don't lose my temper, keep myself calm, cool and collected. this dude made me snap. so i get in the van and i tell him, you know what i'm going to do, i'm beginning to rip this toilet off the wall, bust

through this freaking glass, drag it down the tear and i'm going to bust your glass and i'm going to cut you up -- you're a dead man. yeah -- then all you hear is the steel bending. i got behind the toilet and pushed it to the side, yanked it back, long story short, i ripped the whole toilet off, wrapped nigh hands up in my socks, smashed through the glass. he hasn't seen me yet. get on to the tier. now he's screaming. i'm dragging, finally get out. all the homies on the tier is cheering. this dude is garbage. he's like a serial chester. i'm dripping sweat, blood from my hands,ing draing the toilet down the tier. i get in front of his house and he sees me for the first time and he just starts from going to that, bracking about being this nasty piece of [ bleep ], he

goes just like that, oh, lord in heaven, deliver me from this demon. please, lord. just like that, all of a sudden he's found god. i start smashing in the glass. to get to him. it's only halfway in and that's when the whole unit came, guards and all that. they'll tell you, county jail is rough. if a man took too long, knighton, they despised him, nobody likes a chester. >> if the average sex offender must contend with inmates like knighton, it can be even worse for those whose crimes made headlines. >> periodically over these 5 1/2 years, you know, i turned the television set on to see my face, you know, on the television set. that's pretty uncomfortable. >> we met edward mckeown at the river bend maximum security institution in tennessee. >> i was ordained a catholic

priest of the diocese in 1970. i serve as an active priest for 19 years. at which time i was in effect mustered out of the priesthood because of my behavior. i am in effect a child molester. >> according to police investigators, mckeown admitted to molesting 22 boys, both during and after his time as a priest. the statute of limitations had run out on all but one. it got him a 25-year sentence. >> and so i certainly had some anxious moments when i walked in, because of the way child molesters are traditionally treated in prison which is not very good, you know. but the truth is, i have not been mistreated at all, either by inmates or staff. >> he's lucky as sex offenders go. he's assigned to the prison's one minimum security wing where

most of the inmates are more interested in going home than getting in trouble. and it's not the only positive thing mckeown sees in his incarceration. >> i was a catholic priest for a long time. i was then and i am now, you know, a person of faith. i was certainly a person of faith when i was active as a priest who had a very dark secret. and i don't have that secret anymore. i don't have to hide that. i've asked god to take care of many he and so far he said, okay. i'll do that. . coming up -- >> what in the world is this? >> i have no idea. >> it's key to survival. prison food has plenty of critics. >> how's the food? >> terrible. >> everybody complains, you know, everywhere you go somebody is going to complain. >> my question is where's all the beef at?

one of the interesting things about "lockup" is the subject of prison food. inmates are not shy telling you what they think about it, whether they love it or hate it, generally they do hate it, they're eager to tell you about it. >> how's the food? >> how's the food? >> the food is wonderful. >> you only starve from meal to meal. >> i've gained 15 to 20 pounds since i've been in. i've only been in four months. >> what in the world is this. >> i have no idea. >> five-star restaurant. >> i think i'll stick with the potatoes. >> everybody complains. everywhere you go somebody will explain. >> you could sit down and join us. you'll know for yourself. >> for some, prison food is the best they've had in years.

we were at the brushy mountain correctional complex in tennessee. when jason rogers arrived to begin a 24-year sentence for aggravated robbery. he had spent the last three years in county jail. >> i don't know, maybe i'm a little numb in my head but i'll be all right. >> look right here at the camera. >> though rogers had never been to prison before, he told us there was one thing he was looking forward to. >> people told me that you eat better in the penitentiary. you eat better than you do in the county jail. >> i remember when i was getting the shot of jason sitting down and finally eating it was like a kid at a picnic with all the best food, you in owe, all the best food imaginable, lake a kid in a candy store. he was just putting it in his mouth, having a great time. >> at the miami-dade county jail, we met a group of friends who couldn't quite agree on the culinary merits of lunch. >> this is the only meal that's not great.

the only one that's not great, its baloney every day. a hot meal at night. >> this is the best part of the day, lunch time. and this is how we eat. >> sandwich. >> nice cold cuts. they're great. >> i don't want to trade a sandwich. >> we enjoy sometimes. >> this is turkey salami with little pieces of peppercorn in there that like to jam in your teeth and burn your mouth. they're terrible. >> these apple pies. >> we have cheese. we've got cheese. we've got a pear that will ripen in a couple days. we've got an orange that's ripe now and we've got a raisin cream pie and a chocolate cream pie that people literally fight over. >> this is the best part of the day. >> this is the worst part of the day. >> this is the worst part of the day. >> best or worst, at most of the prisons we visited, inmates have only about 15 minutes to eat.

>> we feed one tier at a time out of each of the buildings. it takes like -- a good hour and a half at least to get everybody fed. you get about 15 minutes apiece in the dining room. usually it takes them about five, though, they're quick at it. they come in, eat, they go. >> how's the food. >> huh? >> how's the food. >> terrible. >> what's so bad about it. >> you've come on a day when they have a piece of chicken. >> what do they usually have? >> garbage. >> what happens if they take longer than 15 minutes. >> they have to leave their tray there and they go about their business. >> they don't have no beef, no steak, no beef, no turkey. what else don't they have around here. >> don't let them kid you. they get good well balanced meals. they feed them better than they ever fed us in the marine corps. they eat good. >>ive abeen here five years. they haven't had a steak, not

own a little piece of steak. none. all your ground beef is processed. my question is where's all the beef at? >> today's a good day, huh? >> i'm a vegetarian. man. >> why are you asking where the beef is then? >> that's what made me go vegetarian. >> coming up on "lockup: raw" -- >> my punishment is not going to begin until i walk out those front gates, because this is a world i've gotten used to since age 12. >> how one inmate's survival depends on staying in prison.

i've been in prison now for three years, falsely convicted. >> i've always maintained my innocence. >> me, i'm innocent, i'm just visiting. >> inmates often tell our producers they were wrongly convicted, innocent of their

crimes. they long for the day when they're free again. that's what made the case of richard so baffling. when we met him, ziggy was fighting to stay in prison. >> life out on the street wasn't all that great. so i just look around me and say, hey, this is where it's at. >> we met ziggy at the riverbend maximum security institution in tennessee. the last stop in a long life of incarceration. >> i've been locked up virtually since age 12 in institutions, reform schools and prisons and penal farms. i'm in here this time for prying into an empty drawer in the lobby of a hospital. i received a life sentence under what they called the habitual criminal clause because i had convicted so many times before of theft, shoplifting and just being a pain to the members of society in midtown memphis.

>> ziggy had grown accustomed to life in riverbend's min security unit. he has what he calls a cushy prison job, editing the inmate newspaper. >> my punishment is not going to begin until i walk out those front gates, because this is a world i've gotten used to since age 12. but when i get out there, it's an entirely different world. and it's a changed world. and to be honest with you, i'm very, very scared. >> during our shoot ziggy was facing a disciplinary board hearing for altering his urine test. >> let me see the text of the writeup here. >> in his hour of need, ziggy turned to an unlikely ally, fellow inmate and convicted serial rapist mark higgins. higgins prison job is as an inmate adviser, a layman defense lawyer. >> inmate hall has been charged with dsa, drug screen alter.

>> i did this for a reason. it was because i'm coming up for parole here in less than three months. and i guess i needed a way to delay that. to delay getting out. i'm not ready to get out. >> lieutenant vance, the d-board chairman has a tendency of don't know, don't care when it comes to personal problems. all he wants to address is what's in the writeup. >> ziggy faces several potential penalties for attempting to alter his drug screen, including time in the hole. a loss of his prison job and even a judgment that can make his whole plan backfire, a transfer to another prison. >> that's one punishment i really don't look forward to, being transferred somewhere else. >> ziggy's reluctance to leave prison became all the more puzzling when we learned some of what he endured during his 30 plus years of incarceration.

>> i was not born gay. every relationship i've had has been a forced type -- well, this is what i have to do type thing. but i didn't enjoy it. as a younger prisoner, i would be made fun of quite a lot because the lord gave me a big butt. i decided to turn it around and so i would say to them, hey, i have a nice one, wow. and it became a defense mechanism, because in prison, in this environment especially, if a person makes himself so easy, then those who prey on him don't -- it's too easy. it's no longer a challenge to them, so they leave him alone. >> the day after that interview, we met ziggying and higgins as y prepared to enter the

disciplinary hearing. >> i'm anxious, uncertain but i have confidence in my inmate adviser to bring out the best defense i could have. >> higgins is basing ziggy's defense on a loophole having to deal with his prior participation in a substance abuse program but ziggy's fate rests in the judgment of the disciplinary board chairman lieutenant tommy vance. >> he's charged with refusing or attempting to alter a drug test. how do you plead, guilt, not guilty. >> not guilty as part of policy for the substance abuse class, any drug testing is to be kept confidential. so this issue is out of the area of the disciplinary board. >> results should be kept confidential. is that what you're saying? >> yes, sir. >> that would be the case had mr. hall took the test. he didn't take the test. >> with his first line of defense shot down, higgins pivots to explain ziggy's

actions. >> ritchie, how many times have you been up for parole in the last 18 years? >> twice. >> what's happened each of those times? >> they've continued me, because of something i've done. >> why would you purposely try to ditch your parole? >> because i'm scared of getting out. >> if you didn't want to make parole can you say i don't want to go? >> i don't know if you would understand but a convict saying that he's not ready to get out, i'd feel like i would be ostracized. >> is that it? >> yes, sir. >> the lieutenant's decision comes swiftly. >> guilty of the charge of refusal, attempt to alter a drug screen. assess a fee of $25. $4 fine, recommend a job drop. you want to appeal this?

>> yes, sir. >> yes, sir, i don't think the $25 is appropriate. >> i can suspend that. i will suspend the $25. >> okay. >> and ritchie would like a little time to get his affairs in order before he has to go away for five days. >> no. everything i heard and saw, he attempted to alter the results of a drug test. >> i was given five days in solitary confinement and he recommended a job drop. which means i'll probably go to pots and pans in the kitchen. >> but ziggy's first stop is the segregation unit better known as the hole where he will be locked up 23 hours a day. though for ziggy it's not all that bad. >> i won't be granted parole in april. that's mission accomplished. i have to accept the consequences of what he said. >> please direct all my mail over to me.

yes, true. >> all i can say if you don't want to meet the parole board, come up with another way, other than tampering with your drug screen. >> mobile unit be advised moving one inmate unit six to unit three, through the access road. >> having reflected an what happened to ritchie hall, i feel kind of bad about that. i don't feel i did the best job i could do. i think they treated him unfairly. they don't want to address the problem that he still has issues with trying to adjust to freedom.

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